Lady Knights stage third-period rally for 3-2 win at Union

Saturday, February 9, 2013 - 9:47 pm

Junior Vanessa Gagnon (St. Constant, QUE) scored with 13 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Union College in ECAC Hockey action at Messa Rink in Schenectady, NY on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Knights, who won their second game of the weekend in NY’s Capital District, have now won five of their last six games to improve their overall record toVanessa Gagnon scored the winning goal with 13 seconds left in the Knights' win at Union - photo by Jim Meagher 23-7, just one victory shy of tying the 10-year-old program’s record for most wins in a season. The Green and Gold defeated Rensselaer 3-1 in Troy on Friday.

With four games remaining in the regular season, Clarkson moves into a tie for first place in the conference standings with a 15-3 ECAC Hockey mark. Both Clarkson and Cornell are one point ahead of Harvard, but the Crimson have two games in hand on both teams. The Golden Knights host Princeton and Quinnipiac in the final regular season game at Cheel Arena next weekend.

Trailing 2-1 at Union after two periods of play, the Knights battled back in the final 20 minutes to keep their bid for the conference regular-season title alive.

At 11:15, senior Danielle Skirrow (Trenton, ONT) scored her 14th goal of the season and second of the weekend, finishing off an assist from sophomore defenseman Jennifer Shields (Ingersoll, ONT).

Gagnon completed the comeback with her second goal of the weekend and sixth of the season with the assist going to junior defenseman Vanessa Plante (Riviere-du-Loup, QUE).

The Knights outshot the Dutchwomen 14-4 in the first period, but had to settle for a scoreless tie through the opening 20 minutes. Union (7-20-3, 0-15-3) sandwiched a pair of goals around a Clarkson score to hold the one-goal lead after 40 minutes.

The teams traded power-play markers in the middle frame with the Dutchwomen’s Jessica Kaminsky connecting at 6:45, and freshman defenseman Erin Ambrose (Keswick, ONT) collecting her third goal of the season at 14:32. Rookie blueline partner Renata Fast (Burlington, ONT) earned the assist.

Just 25 seconds after Ambrose’s tally, Union went back on top with a goal by Kelly McGrath at 14:57.

Clarkson outshot Union 34-24. The Knights were 1-of-3 on the power play and killed off four of the Dutchwomen’s five man-advantage opportunities.